Season Appears Over for Embarrassing Everton

How loud can 6,500 fans boo?

His previous track record is irrelevant as the game has moved on and he is looking more and more of a dinosaur. Fingers crossed that he gets the invitation to manage Real Madrid.

The way the team is coached and set up needs serious scrutiny.

Carlo. I have criticised him on Twitter and been proved wrong with his change of tactics that have turned a game. No doubt he can attract players. Worth another season. Top bloke.

Pickford. He used to give me kittens. Since the Anfield game, quite superb.

Olsen. He always looks confident, sound. Will he want to be permanent back-up?

Virginia. I think he's looked okay. Dodgey spell at Reading though????

Coleman. A top bloke, but not good enough. Can defend but, going forward, you can see sometimes he has no idea what he's going to do. His finishing is abysmal and his crossing and final ball are poor.

Holgate. He's not in good form. Mistakes a-plenty. His heading under pressure is suspect – the Spurs game and I recall the Man City game where we were 1-0 up at the Ethiad and he cushioned a header down to Sterling, 1-1. I wouldn't shed tear if we got £££ for him.

Godfrey. A big plus. I dunno what he was doing for Sheffield Utd goal though? Hopefully lesson learnt.

Keane. Okay.

Mina. I really like him. Aggressive, strong. Can drop clangers though.

Digne. A top player. His crossing of late is not up to his normal excellent standard. Hopefully his worst spell.

Allan. A class act.

Gomes. A quality player. Not in his best form but hopeful he will be back next season.

Doucouré. Yes and no. Engine, work, breaking up opposition attacks, superb. On the ball, though, he can look a donkey. Doesn't create much and has put us under the cosh with some terrible balls. Do we need him and Allan? Although he may release Allan forward a bit more?

Sigurdsson. Nope, Get rid. He never wins a challenge. Creates little other than set-pieces, which is is not enough.

Bernard. He's one of those who has never been given a proper chance, imo. Call me old-fashioned but I like players who can control a ball and play football. His first touch is usually superb. I would like to see him in the No 10 role, definitely ahead of Sigurdsson. I was happy his transfer fell through. Keep.
Iwobi. For fuck's sake... what is he on? Someone on Twitter described him as resembling someone who has taken a tray out of hot oven running round in circles looking for somewhere to put it down. The worst crosser and passer of a ball I think I have ever seen. Take whatever we can get.

Davies. I don't know... He has not kicked on, for me. Has has good games though. My big problem with him is, a pass-back is his go-to pass. I want to see more forwards, get over the gain line.

Richarlison. What a talent. Proper footballer. Not at the moment though. I don't know what's up with him. Hopefully his worst spell at Everton.
James. A Rolls-Royce. Fingers crossed for a full uninjured pre-season.

Calvert-Lewin. I really don't get the hype. Can't shoot, can't dribble, can't create for himself or others... How many assists? Okay at hold-up play, no more than that. Can head. Never confident he will score when one-on-one, The hype started around his winner in the U21 World Cup. That was the result of a botched one-on -one. He only had to pass the ball into the net yesterday. 21 goals, yeah, all but a couple laid on plate. Not knocking effort but the guy just ain't good enough.

Tosun. He's never been given proper chance. Proven goalscorer, internationally and in Turkey. I would not mind if he was here next season, if he is to be given a chance.

King. Another who's never been given a chance.

Kean. He could be explosive... Who knows? We need to play him if we keep him.

So, so, so frustrated this season. At least we won at Anfield ... straws to clutch.

Roll on next season... and breathe!

Having said that, when they are putting in such a poor performance you look to anyone on the bench and there isn't one player who you would look at and say he can make a difference. Iowbi being a prime example.

To that extent, you have to point the finger at Brands. I know King was allegedly injured last night but why send Tosun out on loan to bring in King and then not play him? Couldn't Tosun have warmed the bench just as well? That transaction was done, I would imagine, at high cost.

Moshri must despair on occasion. He has made the wrong decisions on occasion but, give the man his due, everyone thought he had pulled off a masterstroke by bringing Ancelotti in. We will see the true character of Ancelotti if he comes out categorically denying any link with Real Madrid.

A number of players have come to Everton on the strength of Ancelotti being the manager and, if he went, they and all the supporters would rightly feel let down.

A few posters have said they have had enough of Everton, some add that ToffeeWeb makes them want to leave the site because of other posters. Personally, I have followed Everton for a long time and I have never been as down as I am now, supporting the Blues, and I feel that the uninspiring football produced by the manager and squad is the main reason for Evertonians switching off from the team, club and ToffeeWeb.

I'm content with ToffeeWeb and will always stick with the team. It's in the background and the way the club is run that makes me feel the despair I do over the future of the club; it can't go on like this.

I'd feel hypocritical 3 years ago calling for Sam Allardyce's head when the football we played back then is exactly what's on offer now.

You can also argue that Allardyce had an even worse squad than what's on offer now but finished 8th.

The only saving grace for Ancelotti is the away form but, if that goes next season and we are still clueless at Goodison, then I think it's all over before December for him, sadly.

When you have players that represent Brazil, England, France, Portugal etc etc and you can't get them to pass a ball to feet, move, shoot, then you must really be doing something wrong in training.

Don't even get me started on the lack of motivation from these wasters, but again if you have a bunch of lazy twats working for you, it's up to the gaffer to shape them up or be ruthless and ship them out.

The team's confidence is shot to pieces at present and they do not look like ever winning at home. Eventually, results start to align with performances; you can't depend on the Gods to get you across the line every week. It looks as if we will finish somewhere between 10th and 7th; if I had to make a stab at it, at present I would say most likely 9th.

It's been a difficult road since Roberto's first season in charge. I did think that things were going in the right direction in the early part of the Siva reign, until the Anfield set-back totally knocked us and again during the back end of that season when we put a run together to finish 8th.

When Brands was employed by the club, the model was for a young coach to come in and work with the young talent that he acquired. Siva was selected to be that coach; maybe if we had chosen one of the successful German coaches, things might have worked out differently. Or maybe if the 11 that played the last 10 games of Silva's first season were kept intact, we would be in a better place.

This summer's transfer window is crucial and we can't afford any more mistakes. This team needs pace in almost every sector. We also need to offload those who are out of contract.

A sad day to be a Blue!

I actually think we are in bigger trouble now than we have been for a long time, and the reason I say that is I am not convinced that Moshiri and/or Usmanov will plough in the amounts they have done with money needed to build a new stadium.

I was delighted when Carlo joined us; at last, we had appointed a man whose CV was second to none. But maybe age has caught up with him and, because he has won everything, some of the motivation is no longer there.

He has been a great ambassador for the club and well respected by everybody in football, but we need the Carlo from 15 years ago. Can he reinvent himself? I am now doubting he can.

I am sure, if he went to Real Madrid, with the players they have, he would still be successful. But can he, with a couple of very astute buys, turn our lot into a decent team? I am not sure.

“Players can't get the basics right, raises questions about how they are coached.”

This notion raises all the sirens and alarm bells.

What this would mean is that any new signings will fall into the same black hole of confusion. We are not a properly functioning team, we don't have any identity or playing style. Players are frustrated confused and unable to make any kind of fluid play. Passing is bad, control is bad, ball retention is bad, mutual understanding is bad, togetherness and team spirit is bad, fight and determination is bad.

Not all of this is down to the inadequacies of the players.

There's rot elsewhere: coaching, team spirit and togetherness is not right. It hasn't been for a long time. Every time we play, it's like seeing eleven new signings having their first game together: no understanding and no interplay.

Every match at Goodison, the opposition turns up with the same basic tactics. Rapid press our midfielders when we are trying to pass it out and we will crumble into pieces.

Then we will resort to long punts which teams like Sheffield Utd or Burnley treat as chicken feed. It's exactly what they want us to resort to. It's the same as the hopeful crosses from 35 yards up the pitch – chickenfeed to any well-drilled club of any standing in the Premier League or Championship.

These long punts or speculative crosses do not create chances or goals. We have to play through the lines with rapid passing, or have pace and skill. Or, skill and pace to beat the full-back, or use overlapping to get behind to get effective and meaningful dangerous crosses in.

We don't have enough of this at the moment. Almost zero.

Conclusion: Don't expect new signings on their own to change things; that's only part of the solution.

I've said all season that we're not a great team but we're not a shit team and previous thread comments like "we are in bigger trouble now than we have been for a long time" are understandable but wide of the mark. You can see and hear in Carlo's comments just how angry and frustrated he is by them; I hope that translates into action. But as always it probably depends more on sales than buys.

Our home form won't be the same when we're back in the Grand Old Lady, just like it won't for all the other teams (remember, we're not alone in being shite at home this season). But it will need a change in play; people actually taking responsibility for their actions and not just taking the easy sideways or backwards way out.

I posted yesterday evening asking who dictates the tactic of square and backwards passing? Is this the manager or are the players doing this despite being told to move the ball forwards by the manager?

Why is Holgate, who we were all saying last season should be skipper and in the England team, playing so poorly and is riddled with basic errors?

Why break up the Digne - Richarlison combo on the left when neither player is anything like as good when Richarlison plays centrally?

Why loan out or sell so many wide players (who admittedly weren't very good), leaving us so short in that area?

Why take King on loan if the manager clearly doesn't rate him enough to give him a chance?

Why persist with such slow players in midfield? One on his own can be accommodated but not two or three together.

Why drop Tom Davies when he has been playing well, looks for the forward pass, and adds energy and effort to midfield?

Why meddle so much with central defence, giving the players no chance to forge a decent partnership?

Despite the above, I am not just blaming the manager. The players have been pitiful and should hang their heads in shame after the way they have played in 2021. James cannot be accommodated in a team with weaknesses like ours, we need 10 outfield players who can contribute 100%. Likewise Sigurdsson, a luxury player who produces the odd goal or assist but is a passenger the rest of the time.

The game has changed in this country with high press all over the pitch being in vogue. Most of our players need time to dwell on the ball and are dispossessed too easily. Mourinho has been shown to be unsuited to the way the game has changed and I suspect Carlo is also being left behind, unable to cope with the changes in the methods used by English teams.

Does he need to go? First I would love to know who decided on the square or backwards passing game but this must surely be the manager? My fear is that, if he stays, he will buy more elderly players rather than some energetic and ambitious young players who will put a rocket up the ones who stay. James should be thanked for his moments of skill and sold along with a depressing number of others who we all know will be difficult to shift.

A big summer awaits – now where have I heard that before?

We can enjoy the hoodoos we've broken this year but I'd honestly rather have a discernible identity and way of playing and players that seem to thrive in their roles, like Leicester. We're going nowhere fast and it is really hard for me to bothered when having watched every game the only one we were clearly superior was v Sheffield Wednesday in the FA Cup and the rest were apathy inducing.

What is going on at Everton. Carlo seems a really decent guy with a great track record with top clubs but he's being beaten by the Everton problem as far as I can see right now. Depressing.

Thomas Tuchel shows what a difference a new coach can make but he also has a much better squad. Has our recruitment really come on since the days of Moyes...? I don't honestly think so, despite the immoral sums we've spent. I could stomach this all more and have less frustration if we'd spent peanuts.

I've been a supporter for 30 years and have always read but never commented on articles and posts here (excellent work, ToffeeWeb Team, btw). But after yesterday, I can't help but finally post something.

I spoke to the CEO of the current Premier League Champions in 2019 and asked him what he felt was wrong with the Blues; his response was very simple: "Lack of winning a mindset throughout the club; from the owners to the players. Happy with little victories on occasion." That I believe sums up EFC in a nutshell.

The winners in and around EFC are the fans (us long suffering fools) who have put up with the dross decade after decade (Yes! Decades not years...). We turn to the Team as our heroes to lift us at the end of a hard week at work and at home... but the players and everyone else at the club on the playing end clearly don't give a shit.

I say that we should return the favour and don't give anything back to the Club until owners and management get the message and do a thorough introspection of how they manage the Club and the Team. I don't think there's any more point of us looking at lineups and managers etc until the owners are able to permeate a winning mindset through the entire organization; otherwise, every season it's a question of papering over the monumental cracks that exist throughout EFC.

I for one have had enough of being let down by the Club and feeling worse after every match. Thinking of playing in Europe with the current setup is a joke because it will sap the Team (not to mention fans) to the point of making relegation from the Premier League a real prospect (maybe not a bad thing to force a total rethink at EFC).

For real inspiration, go and see how Barnsley FC are being managed and what they have quietly been doing.

I salute all of you here for being lowly and supportive all these years; what would EFC be without all of you?

Klopp had an okay CV but it didn't match those 3, but now he's leaving them behind because his style of play and general approach is evolving.

After 6 games, we were top of the Premier League... athough it proved to be short-lived. What has gone wrong.? Training? Tactics? Morale?

Learn to pass accurately, reduce the constant passing sideways. Then you can pass the ball out of defence instead of hoofing it upfield. It invariably comes back. I know, they're obvious basics but are they doing them?

It would be nice if Richarlison didn't scowl through the whole match. Perhaps he knows he's not playing well.

I really do not recall in any period of support being more frustrated – that is no mean achievement in 50+ years of following the club. But our combination of poor leadership on and off the field, spending mind-boggling sums of money to go further backwards, our standard of football being at an all-time low and the overall malaise within the club is really rather a lot to cope with when so much of our emotional investment as supporters is tossed away, week after week, by those representing the club.

Awful performance last night but, in the context of where I've seen us over the years, I'm desperately trying to separate angry frustration from looking where we are in comparison to where I've seen us.

In a season where Villa can beat Liverpool 7-2, surely we also need to take this into account when reviewing the whole picture?

And we have not learned any lessons despite being like this for at least a decade. We expect a quick fix from a mercenary manager. We expect big signings to make a difference but they simply patch up a broken system. We tell young players they are great – so they believe it and give the ball away with a shrug.

We need to clear Finch Farm of legends, heroes and dinosaurs. We need to rebuild from scratch – so anyone who wants away can go. Those only here for £11m can also go - as can any youngsters with ideas above their performance. It may take 3 or 4 years – but we need to build a system, a team and a passion.

There needs to be a clear-out during the summer and a clear idea of how the team is to be set up to pose a threat to the opposition which has been sadly lacking recently.

Over the last 10 games, we have managed 7 goals, winning just 2. On this form, unless major changes occur, we would be totally embarrassed should we scrape into Europe.

If I didn't know better, it is as if the club are cursed. We all get our hopes up only to have them dashed as usual.

To be honest, watching rugby is now far more entertaining than watching overpaid prima donnas passing sideways and backwards for most of the games, and I'm not only talking about our players.

The great thing about a Moyes return would be the comfort of knowing we won't compete. Uninspired stability is most underrated because, without expectations, you can't be let down – it's a doozey!!

Go get him, Moshiri... just think how you can recover some of your losses by halving the size of that new stadium. It's a win-win when you think about it.

Very true!

So another flop-filled season and the usual suspects win out again.

Ross Barkley looked a world beater.

Remember that Man City game when Tom Davies stood out as a teenager as the best player on the pitch?

A year ago, Holgate was being mentioned as a possible England player.

Add Kenny and Lookman to the mix and you wonder why our youngsters don't kick on like a Foden or a Mount.

Something is rotten in the state of Everton.

I used the word 'frustrated' by choice for that reason.

Like all of us, many desperate moments over a half-century of support is inevitable – I just cannot think of one currently where eye-boggling spending, desperate boardroom appointments, mercenary players and mind-numbing football quality have combined so effectively to so little effect other than to drive us all to emotional despair as reward for our loyalty.

This tells you everything. Getting somewhere near the best out of what you have available is the bottom line. He doesn't even pick the right starting line up. Cannot make the right subs, and obviously doesn't motivate. He basically needs players that are so good, they barely need coaching then.

I've never said he needs sacking, and still don't, but I have very little faith.

Moyes coming back second time wouldn't be a good idea. The concern is that BK probably thinks it would be – which would become a very big concern it Carlo was pushed or walked. It didn't work with Kendall. Over the road, it didn't work with Dalgleish either.

That aside we seem destined for 8th place (at best) and seem to need about 8 new players to stand a chance of cracking Top 6.

As much as I rate Ancelotti, the increasing concern is what he is able to achieve without a squad of top class players because he's not going to have one any time soon.

- the playing staff needs a lot of work; and

- there's misalignment between Moshiri, Brands and the managers

We talk a lot about the former. It's a huge problem - but it's arisen because of the latter.

Moshiri has been generous but he's running the club badly. I've said plenty of times that I believe he isn't interested in footballing success. The first season or two taught him that success comes at higher price than he was expecting. So now we have a glamour manager and a few glamour players to keep us relevant while he builds the stadium and renovates the docks. Neither managers nor Brands get their own way - it's always an uneasy compromise perpetuating our dysfunctional squad.

Recruitment-wise, players were brought in prior to Ancelotti's arrival that were sub-standard, but also given contracts they were not worth. No-one in Everton is admitting to that. Ancelotti is calling out what the problem is. The perpetrators of the problem on and off the field are silent and are probably not too enamoured with Ancelotti's comments after the last two games or the loss before that.

Speaking to a friend who does not support any team, but watches all games, he said: "Everton were pretty bad and hopeless, didn't look as if they were trying. Anybody could have scored the goal. " He was more interested in talking about the FA Cup Final, which I hadn't watched.

I told him what I thought. He said he thought that players would want to play in competitions and achieve things given their short careers, but for some reason, which he did not understand, Everton players were not like that. I said a lot of fans don't understand either, including myself.

The only explanation I can give is Ancelotti and his crew are alone and the rest have downed tools in response throughout the club. I don't even think we will get a Bramley-Moore Dock update to try to take the heat off.

In the last two games, they will be hoping Real Madrid will come knocking, so they can help Ancelotti on his way. They are that brazen and barefaced. To them, the fans are irrelevant. Even if fans were able to attend, it would be used to put pressure on the manager. Many of us have attended games like that under previous managers – and who do you think left the Club as a result?

You list, correctly, a lot of flaws in the team's line-up but then say you don't blame the manager. I know how you feel, I desperately want Carlo to succeed... but maybe it's time we did start to blame the manager.

He's the one who moved Richarlison from the left. He's the one leaving out Davies. He's the one swapping the centre-backs around. And he's the one insisting on this ridiculous scenario of 2 defenders in our 6-yard box for goal-kicks. I feel dirty for saying it but he's not doing the job he should be capable of.

We got beaten by a team of inferior players and a stand-in coach. Well beaten. Not one of their team should be considered for our squad and they beat us in every department.

I wish there could be 37,000 there against Wolves to bay for blood. It's time we faced reality and stopped giving Carlo such an easy ride.

I decided to leave it a couple of days after the Sheffield United debacle to write down my thoughts.

I'm seething. Carlo was right, we are an embarrassment. How is it possible that Everton can keep getting your hopes up, get you so close to breaking that glass ceiling, and then at the last possible moment just dash your hopes again? And again? And again? That's consistency, the Everton way.

(Are there any Evertonians at Guantanamo Bay? Because if so, the CIA is wasting their time. We don't have a breaking point!)

And so we're pissed off. Of course we bloody are. The Blues' lot in life is to be like that giant who is constantly trying to empty out a river using a thimble. Except our river is a river of shit. And we don't have a thimble because the last one we won was in 1995, so instead, we just look at each other and talk about how much more it stank under Sam Allardyce.

And that is the main problem. We are fed up – 26 long years. (I bunked off my exams to see that game because I figured it would not happen again for a while, but fuck me...)

We are desperate for change. We need change. But things are changing: Arsenal away, Spurs away, Liverpool away.

Of course, the squad is not good enough. We have had terrible recruitment in the past, we have wasted so much oney but that is because we have had so many managers. The solution is not changing managers again. The solution is to give him a bit of time. And let him work his magic.

Carlo is not beyond criticism; some of his formations are baffling but, whilst this was our 26th season of disappointment, it was only his first one. And it was the strangest season ever.

I think he will get us there. And I think he will get us there sooner than we think. He needs backing – we need a ruthless overhaul of this squad, using all his clout to get the top players. (And ideally, in the transfer market Farhad will be happy for us to go for the finished article because, as a fanbase, we're fed-up of waiting for players to hit their potential.)

We've been pushed to breaking point but we will get there. Nothing worthwhile was ever easy.

I certainly wouldn't like to leave the field and face Mr Ferguson if I hadn't given everything.

That was a few matches. Ferguson made it clear he was not ready for the job, knowing the extent of the job. What preparation has he made in the meantime? It is noticable he is not even in camera view in the dugout or seen carrying the proverbial kitbag.

He needs to prove and develop himself somewhere else, like Unsworth, which, like Unsworth, he will never do.

When the manager's job comes up again, he will have some other excuse, rightly afraid he would be gone for good after one season. He is only too aware of the deep problems at Everton and will let sleeping dogs lie.

Sure, the players may lift their game for a period, but their motivation and that of his backroom mates would inevitably disappear like snow off a ditch.

Not sure which I subscribe to yet. Elements of truth in both of them. I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt until after another transfer window. With margins in the Premier League being so fine, it is unlikely that the second option of grinding out slender wins, playing dire football, will work as well a second time.

A big transfer window!

These Winning % stats from Steve Brown on another thread may help:

Howard Kendall I - 54. 1%
Carlo Ancelotti - 46. 8%
Roberto Martinez - 42. 7%
Colin Harvey - 42. 6%
David Moyes - 42. 1%

The rest weere worse.

Interesting stats though. Sort of confirms to me that the jury is still out. Ancelotti: Busted flush or making the best of a bad job? Discuss.

Would make a good A-Level question!

It shows where Ancelotti's frustration is coming from and the resistance he is facing. There must be a fight going on inside Everton, we are only seeing the surface of it.

Ancelotti has everything we could have wished for with a CV that is bettered by none. I do sincerely hope a drastic change happens in our playing style and results although it's going to have to be next season for us to see it.

My major doubts are as follows:

Who tells the players to welly the ball upfield from the kick-off? This is proper amateur stuff at best!

Who decides to drag every man back when the opposition have a corner? Where's the outlet for a breakaway? All this does is increase pressure.

Who decided to take our goal-kicks with two defenders in the box? If we are not a possession team, then what's that about?

Who decides that we have a back 5 when we play (other) poor teams? Can we not just have a go????

Who decides to play a combination of slow midfielders and leave us totally exposed? At least try one of the youngsters, for fuck's sake!

Why is our passing and ball retention so poor? Do they not do the drills at Finch Farm or is it all on the blackboard?? (Oops. Can't say that anymore... )

There are so many questions that come down to that man with the best CV but, even more worrying for me, is that Moshiri may well have too much respect for his employee to confront him and instead he just hopes like the rest of us that Ancelotti finds a formula that works.

I don't know how a manager of his pedigree can allow the shit show to go on like this without making drastic changes. The only way he can realistically blame the players is if they don't want to play for him. There's lots of average teams out there that play nice football.

Moshiri is not going to get rid of Carlo and likewise the manager is here to prove he is up to the job. Any other thoughts are a waste of time. So where does the club go from here?

I believe Brands is the key (with Carlo's advice of course) but it is essential he gets rid of as much of this team as he can in the summer and replace them with players who are young, ambitious, hate losing and hate seeing their teammates not pulling their plonker and letting them know about it.

Players who give their all such as Ollie Watkins who never gives his opponent a moment's peace. They are out there Mr Brands, it is your job to find them and your job Carlo to make sure they are fit, angry and capable of representing this club I have supported for over 60 years.

After your recent utterances Carlo, if you are uttering the same complaints by December then the love-in with Moshiri and Crosby has to come to an end.

I'd like to think the away form this season won't be a flash in the pan..

We shall see.

Still blind hope, and West Ham and Spurs to loose their last games and Everton to do mission very difficult at the Etihad.

Brighton winning last night proves they are beatable.

Hopefully City finish their season at home, playing like the start of the seasons, when they were getting beaten consistently at home for couple of months.

Enjoy the win All, stay safe and on to victory at the Etihad!

Yes celebrating a home win at last, with a few beers.